Working in a Place That Seeks
To Revive the Best of the Past

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- Stephen Gordon knows a thing or two about working at home. After all, he opened a retail store in one room of his house nearly 20 years ago.

While he was restoring a Queen Anne Victorian home in northern California, Mr. Gordon had trouble finding certain fixtures. So in 1979, he set up a little business out of the house he had fixed up, selling hard-to-find hardware.